What is WooCommerce? A Comprehensive Guide

WooCommerce powers a third of the world’s eCommerce websites — a total of more than 400,000 companies ranging from one-person ventures to mid- and large-size companies in niches of all kinds. WooCommerce is a free plugin for building a full-featured online storefront on any self-hosted WordPress website, and it’s easy to install and configure, even if you’re a new user with no web development experience at all.  

Below is a complete guide on what is WooCommerce and how to use it to improve your online business. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to start selling your services or products within no time.

What is WooCommerce? 

WooCommerce plugin is an extension designed to add functionality to websites built with WordPress, the free and open source content management system (CMS) platform that drives most websites worldwide.  

Since it is a plugin, it’s easy to get started with WooCommerce once you’ve started building your website. Bluehost offers WooCommerce hosting plans to make things even easier. 

This platform adds all the essential features of a basic online store to any WordPress website, with options for customizing the look and content of your store.  

The WooCommerce plugin works with virtually all the free and premium themes available for WordPress sites. Users can also install WooCommerce-friendly themes designed to support major features such as product displays, slideshows and galleries.  

In addition, this plugin can be configured directly from your WordPress admin dashboard with no coding required, so even inexperienced users can set up a fully functioning online store with little difficulty.

Related: Learn how to install and set up the WooCommerce plugin here

Is WooCommerce free? WooCommerce pricing 

One of WooCommerce’s standout features is its flexible pricing model. This makes it a popular choice for all-sized businesses, from budding startups to well-established enterprises. 

The core WooCommerce plugin is entirely free to download and use. So, you can transform your WordPress website into a fully operational online store without any initial investment. Even with the free version, you’ll have access to essential features like product listings, shopping carts, checkout page processes and basic payment options. 

However, to take your store’s functionality to the next level, you might find it useful to invest in premium extensions or add-ons. WooCommerce offers a vast selection of paid enhancements that you can purchase individually to tailor your store to your specific needs. 

Key WooCommerce features 

Open-source nature 

Have you ever heard of the term “open source”? It’s a game-changer in the eCommerce world, especially if you’re looking to create a website for your business. Here’s how it benefits: 

• Freedom to customize: Being open-source means WooCommerce gives you the reins. 
• Community support: When you use WooCommerce, you’re not walking this journey alone. There’s a vibrant community of developers, store owners and enthusiasts just like you. 
• No hidden costs: One of the best things about open source is transparency. With WooCommerce, what you see is what you get. No hidden fees, no unexpected surprises. 
• Flexibility galore: Whether you’re selling artisanal coffee beans, eBooks or subscription boxes, WooCommerce molds itself to fit your needs. 

Versatile product selling 

Whether you’re selling physical products, digital goods or services, WooCommerce is flexible enough to accommodate all types of products. Because of its adaptability, it suits a wide range of businesses and industries. 

Order and shipping management 

WooCommerce streamlines order and shipping management, offering a smooth experience from the moment an order is placed until it reaches the customer. With automated order tracking, real-time customer notifications and customizable shipping options, your fulfillment process stays efficient and hassle-free. 

Customer account area 

Enhance the shopping experience with a user-friendly customer account area where buyers can manage their personal details. This area allows customers to view their order history, track current shipments and update their shipping and billing addresses, giving them full control over their shopping journey. 

Tax settings 

With WooCommerce’s robust tax management tools, you can easily configure standard or reduced tax rates and automatically apply them based on your customer’s location. This is a crucial feature for businesses that sell internationally, as it ensures compliance with varying tax laws around the world. 

Payment gateway 

WooCommerce supports multiple payment gateways, making it simple for you to accept payments from all major sources. Popular gateways like PayPal, Stripe and credit cards are fully integrated, allowing you to offer flexible payment options that cater to your customer’s preferences and enhance the checkout experience. 

Inventory management 

Stay on top of your stock with WooCommerce’s detailed inventory management features. You’ll receive automatic alerts when items are running low or out of stock, helping you efficiently plan restocks and ensure you never miss a sale due to inventory issues. 

Customizable checkout process 

Create a checkout experience that fits your business model perfectly. WooCommerce allows you to modify checkout fields, offer guest checkout or enable one-click purchases. These customizable options help reduce cart abandonment and increase customer satisfaction, giving your store a competitive edge. 

Shopping rules 

WooCommerce’s flexible shopping rules let you tailor the purchasing process to your specific needs. From managing the order process and payments to handling product refunds, this feature allows you to define the customer journey and ensure a seamless shopping experience. 

Sales reporting 

Track your store’s performance with WooCommerce’s built-in sales reporting tools. If you need more advanced insights, you can expand functionality with additional reporting extensions. Some extensions even allow you to export reports into Excel or CSV for in-depth analysis. For tracking profits and losses, the WooCommerce Cost of Goods extension from SkyVerge is a useful option to consider.

Why use WooCommerce: Benefits explained 

WooCommerce is a free-to-use eCommerce plugin that allows you to easily create a fully functional online store. Here are some other benefits of WooCommerce: 

WordPress integration 

WooCommerce is tailor-made for WordPress, offering seamless integration with the platform. This means you can easily add robust eCommerce capabilities to your existing WordPress website, taking advantage of its user-friendly content management system. 

Cost-effective solution 

One of the most attractive aspects of WooCommerce is its affordability. This core eCommerce plugin is completely free to download and use, allowing you to set up a functional online store without upfront costs. This makes it an excellent choice for small businesses and startups. However, as your store grows, you might opt to invest in advanced features, specialized themes or integrations with third-party tools, which could add some costs along the way. 

Comprehensive eCommerce features 

WooCommerce comes with a wealth of built-in eCommerce features. It provides tools for product management, inventory tracking, order processing and more, ensuring a smooth transaction process for both merchants and customers. 

Comprehensive documentation 

WooCommerce provides extensive documentation and resources that cover a wide range of topics. This is particularly valuable for web developers and store owners who want to personalize and enhance their online shops. 

Easy installation and setup 

Installing WooCommerce is as straightforward as adding any other plugin to your WordPress site. Available for free in the WordPress plugin directory, WooCommerce can be set up in a matter of minutes, thanks to its handy Setup Wizard. This makes configuring key store elements like secure payments and shipping options a quick and easy task, even for beginners. 

Highly extensible 

WooCommerce’s flexibility shines through its extensive range of eCommerce plugins and themes. With thousands of extensions at your disposal, you can tailor your online store to your own requirements. WooCommerce’s extensibility guarantees that you can scale and adjust as your company expands, whether you are improving the checkout experience, introducing additional payment methods, or connecting marketing tools. 

Strong community and support 

WooCommerce boasts a rich ecosystem of support, from well-documented guides to a thriving community of users and developers. Whether you need help troubleshooting or are looking for ways to enhance your store, the wealth of resources available ensures that assistance is always within reach. Plus, the community-driven nature of WooCommerce leads to continuous improvements and updates. 

Built-in analytics 

Tracking your store’s performance is essential for growth, and WooCommerce’s built-in analytics provide valuable insights into sales trends, customer behaviors and more. With easy-to-understand reports on key metrics like average order value and demographic data, you can make informed decisions that drive your business forward. 

Speed and security 

Fast load times and strong security are critical for any online business. WooCommerce, built on the reliable WordPress platform, benefits from regular updates and a commitment to security. When paired with a trustworthy hosting provider, WooCommerce ensures a fast, secure shopping experience for your customers, giving them peace of mind as they browse and purchase. 

SEO and marketing tools 

WooCommerce is designed with SEO best practices in mind. So, your store will rank better in search engine results. Additionally, it integrates seamlessly with various marketing tools and WordPress plugins, enabling you to implement strategies like email marketing, social media campaigns and promotional offers to grow your customer base and boost sales.

How does WooCommerce work? 

With the help of the free WooCommerce plugin, you can transform your WordPress website into a fully functional eCommerce store. With its seamless integration, WooCommerce gives your WordPress website all the features you require, such as product pages, shopping carts and checkout features. Now that we’ve covered how WooCommerce works, let’s walk through the setup process. 

How to set up WooCommerce store 

Get hosting and a domain name 

The first step to launching your WooCommerce store is selecting a hosting provider and registering a domain name. Your hosting provider stores your website’s data and ensures your site is always accessible, while your domain name serves as your store’s unique web address. 

Choose a hosting provider that offers strong performance and WooCommerce compatibility and select a memorable domain name that reflects your brand. Bluehost makes it easy by offering both hosting and domain registration, along with automatic WordPress installation. 

Once you have your hosting account with a reliable web hosting provider, you’re ready to get started. WooCommerce compatibility ensures that your online store aligns properly with your brand’s requirements. 

Install WordPress 

Since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, your next task is to install WordPress on your hosting account. Most hosting providers simplify this step with one-click WordPress installations, allowing you to set it up in minutes. After installation, the WordPress dashboard is available for you to start customizing your eCommerce site. 

Install the WooCommerce plugin 

With WordPress ready, it’s time to transform your site into an online store by installing the WooCommerce plugin. Here’s how to do it: 

• Log in to your WordPress admin area (usually via yourdomain.com/wp-admin/). 
• In the sidebar, go to the Plugins tab and then click on Add New Plugin. 

• In the search bar, enter WooCommerce. The plugin will appear at the top. 
• Click Install Now next to WooCommerce, and once installed, hit the Activate button. 

• After activation, the WooCommerce Setup Wizard will launch, guiding you through the essential configurations for your store. 

Install a WooCommerce-compatible WordPress theme 

Your store’s appearance plays a significant role in attracting customers, so choose a WooCommerce-compatible WordPress theme that aligns with your brand and provides a seamless shopping experience. Here’s how to install a theme: 

Download your chosen WooCommerce theme to your computer 

From your WordPress dashboard, locate the Appearance tab and click on Themes. Then click Upload. 

Select the theme file from your computer. Once it is uploaded, click “Install Now” and then activate it. From here, you can explore customization options to perfect your store’s look and feel. 

Set up the WooCommerce shop 

The Setup Wizard will help you configure key store settings, including currency preferences, payment methods, shipping options and taxes. It’s important to take your time here to ensure your store operates smoothly from day one. 

Add products 

With your store framework in place, it’s time to populate it with products. WooCommerce makes it easy to add detailed product descriptions, prices, images and more. Organize your products into categories and tags to enhance customer navigation. 

• Simply head to “Products” > “Add New,” and fill in the product name, description, images and other relevant details. 

• Once done, hit “Publish,” and your product will be live on your site. 

Set up payment gateways 

To start processing transactions, you’ll need to configure payment gateways. WooCommerce supports popular options like PayPal and Stripe, among others. Here’s how to set them up: 

• Go to “WooCommerce” > “Settings” > “Payments” from your dashboard. 
• Toggle the switches to enable your chosen payment methods, such as PayPal or Stripe. 

• For PayPal, click “Set Up” and enter your PayPal email address along with any other configuration details. If you are a Bluehost user with WooCommerce hosting, you get an option to enable YITH PayPal Payments. 

• For Stripe, you’ll need to provide your API keys from your Stripe account. Both PayPal and Stripe allow you to securely process payments, with no startup costs, though standard processing fees apply. 
• You can add more payment methods by enabling WooPayments, COD (Cash on delivery), direct bank transfer and more. 

Manage discounts 

Discounts are a powerful way to boost sales, and WooCommerce makes setting up coupons easy. Navigate to the “Coupons” page, where you can add new coupons or edit existing ones to offer deals to your customers. 

Bluehost offers the WonderCart feature with its WooCommerce hosting plans. This tool allows you to easily create sales offers, coupons and promotions for your customers. 

Manage orders 

Once your products are live, and your payment methods are set, you’ll need to handle incoming orders. WooCommerce provides an “Orders” section in the WordPress dashboard where you can view and manage every order. 

Each order comes with a unique ID and includes customer details like email, address and payment method. You can also update order statuses directly from this page to keep customers informed. 

Setup Analytics 

WooCommerces Analytics feature allows you to monitor your store’s performance. From the Analytics section in the dashboard, you can track key metrics such as purchases, gross sales and average daily sales. 

Reports can be customized to display statistics for individual products, categories, orders, customers and more. 

Note: WooCommerce Reports has been replaced after the release of WooCommerce 4.0. Analytics is available for all the users running WordPress 5.3 and above versions. 

Add more features with WooCommerce extensions 

While WooCommerce comes with a rich feature set, you might need additional functionality as your business grows. 

WooCommerce extensions offer a range of options to enhance your store, from accepting multiple payment gateways to improving shipping logistics, integrating marketing tools or automating accounting processes. These simple to install extensions can significantly expand your store’s capabilities as needed. 

Is WooCommerce the right choice for you? 

The choice hinges on your website’s nature and your CMS selection. 

WooCommerce, an extension tailored for WordPress, caters to eCommerce stores seamlessly. If you’re contemplating an online store within WordPress, this plugin is indispensable and, remarkably, it’s cost-free, offering an array of benefits. 

Related: View our Top Rated WooCommerce Themes 

WooCommerce allows you to sell various items, from physical and digital products to reservations and services. 

Users who may benefit from using WooCommerce include: 

• Individuals seeking a simple, professional approach to crafting online store websites. 
• Companies striving to swiftly construct their eCommerce platforms autonomously. 
• Users crave complete transaction control on their online store websites. 
• Anyone yearning to transform their WordPress websites into fully operational online stores. 

WooCommerce is an outstanding choice for those venturing into eCommerce using WordPress as their CMS. This complete guide allows you to enhance your online business using WooCommerce, ensuring you can commence selling services or products with ease. 

Final thoughts: What is WooCommerce 

Like WordPress, WooCommerce is open-source software. Anyone can use this popular eCommerce platform to build their online store. Support is available from a growing body of WooCommerce tutorials, guides and a worldwide community of users and developers.  

This free plugin was designed to make it easy for any user to set up an online storefront on a WordPress site and start selling products immediately. And with a menu of mix-and-match extensions to choose from, WooCommerce has the tools online entrepreneurs of all kinds need to succeed. 

Setting up WooCommerce stores is easy with Bluehost. Check out all the steps on how to set up your online store. 

What is WooCommerce: FAQs